1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reloading presses for spent cartridge cases and in particular it relates to a basic reloading press and interchangeable conversion sets individually mountable to the basic press to provide a press of one configuration and interchange of the conversion sets providing convertibility of the configured press as between single station, multiple station, and functional capability.
2. Background of the invention
Individuals reloading ammunition desire easy-to-use, rugged, accurate, reliable equipment to perform the reloading operations. The user desires a tool that will rapidly and accurately perform the necessary functions required in a reloading operation, such as lubricating the case prior to resizing, depriming the case, installing a new primer, resizing the case, dispensing a throw of powder, and seating and crimping the bullet. Reducing the cost of ammunition is of course one of the reasons individuals reload ammunition. Tooling costs are a important consideration in the reloading operation.
A novice or beginner will typically invest in a single stage press to perform the reloading operations. The single stage press is arranged to accept a single reloading die and the user will perform an operation on a number of spent cartridge cases using one die, change the die and then perform a second operation on the same cartridge cases. The user will continue, changing dies as required, until all of the reloading operations are completed. This is of course time consuming and requires separate handling of the cases between operations. As the individual gains in knowledge and improves on the reloading skills, the individual will look to other tooling and methods that will simplify and reduce the time required to perform the operations.
One of the ways to accomplish this end is the use of a multiple station reloading press. The multiple station reloading press is arranged for multiple dies and a case is presented to each of the dies in sequence to perform the reloading operations. Thus as the press is cycled, an operation is performed on a cartridge case in one station then indexed to the next station where another operation is performed on the case and so on until all of the operations required are completed. As will be appreciated, the time required is greatly reduced and the cases do not require handling between the operations.
There are some add on kits for converting a single stage press to the multiple stage. The kit is fastened to the die holder and extends upwardly from the top of the single stage press. The kit requires a base and an upper plate for holding the multiple dies and structure to support the upper plate above the add-on base as well as an indexing shell holder. The kit although converting the single stage press to a multiple stage duplicates much of the basic structure, i.e, the base, the top plate and supporting structure. Duplication of the structure of course adds to the cost. The commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,831 discloses such a kit for adapting a single station press to a multiple station.